Cazzie David is the 26-year-old daughter of Laurie and Larry David. Even though she already has several credits to her name, including actor, director, producer and writer, Cazzie’s name became very well known as the women Pete Davidson dumped to hook up with Ariana Grande. At the time, Cazzie said virtually nothing about the breakup or the subsequent engagement between Pete and Ariana. However, Cazzie is about to release her first collection of essays, titled No One Asked for This, next week. In one chapter she addresses what really went down between her and Pete. Fortunately, as much as it hurt then, things are good between them now.
If you google (Cazzie) David, this is likely what you’ll read about: In 2018, after the two dated for 2½ years, the “Saturday Night Live” comedian ended their relationship and got engaged to Ariana Grande within weeks. The actual story, as David writes, was more complicated. She and Davidson were infatuated. He got a tattoo of her cartoon likeness on his arm, a tattoo of her name on his ring finger and a tattoo of her favorite emoji on his neck. But she says she struggled to convince him that she really loved him, and she was fearful of ending things, because “previously, self-harm and suicide threats had come about from trivial circumstances.” (Davidson, 26, has been transparent about his mental health struggles — he’s used hard drugs, cut himself and been diagnosed with bipolar and borderline personality disorders.)
David did eventually build up the courage to initiate a break, only to call him back days later and say she’d made a mistake. But Davidson said he was “the happiest he had ever been,” and definitively dumped her two days later in a text message. The following day, she learned that he was with Grande. He’d uploaded images of himself to Instagram showing that he’d covered his Cazzie tattoos.
She was devastated. On the plane to her sister’s college graduation, David was held by her dad as she “shook uncontrollably in his arms for the entire flight.” She curled up in the hotel’s bathroom, crying and sucking on her weed pens. She woke up “screaming in agony,” her dad pulling her from the bed to stop her spiraling.
“CAZZIE, COME ON!” Larry David told her. “YOUR ANCESTORS SURVIVED THE HOLOCAUST!”
Social media only compounded the pain. On Instagram, Grande’s fans wrote nasty messages — Davidson had upgraded from Walmart to Chanel. She struggled to stop the footage playing in her mind of Davidson and Grande “immediately falling in love, accompanied by audio of her baby voice whispering sweet nothings in his ear, dubbed over his past declarations of love and trust to me.”
“It was a really pivotal moment in my life,” she says now. “And writing about it has caused me a ton of anxiety, especially because I talk so much about hating the attention it brought me. Why would I bring more attention to myself by writing about it? But there’s nothing that’s gonna be worse than what I already experienced with that.”
Davidson’s romance with Grande ended after five months. He and David are now friends again — she’s already shown him the essay — and he is thanked in the acknowledgments of her book. (“Pete. I love you … Your bravery inspires me and your friendship means the world to me.”)
(Cazzie’s editor, Kate) Napolitano thinks the Davidson chapter is one of the standouts in the book, allowing her to “take back some of the power” over a narrative she couldn’t control. The editor thinks David has “so many books in her.”
I was relatively unaware of Cazzie prior to reading this LA Times article. Apparently, she, like her famous father, is very open about living with mental health struggles and neuroses, discussing it mainly through humor and self-deprecating language. She has sought various treatments and I am not here to dwell on that part, but when she writes that she was shaking uncontrollably and curled up on the bathroom floor, I’m certain she’s not speaking hyperbolically. I was particularly affected thinking about her reading all the comments from Ariana’s fans demeaning Cazzie solely to justify the swiftness of Ari’s relationship with Pete. I don’t think Ariana encouraged this and now we see that although he could have been more sensitive to what Cazzie was going through, Pete really didn’t do anything wrong, at least he didn’t dump Cazzie for Ariana as I originally thought. She had to deal with her breakup, what she saw as a rejection and a completely unwarranted attack all in a public forum, it would have broken the strongest among us. So I am glad that writing about it, as frightening as it was, allowed Cazzie to reclaim some of that power.
Most blurbs on No On Asked for This like to point out of dark the humor is, which sound about right for the David family.
Photo credit: Avalon, Getty Images and Instagram
What did I just read? That relationship reeked of codependency. And in your 20s, having your dad remind you that your ancestors survived the Holocaust is a sick comparison. It’s a break-up, not the end of your life.
Nobody:
really nobody:
Cazzie whatever her name is: Im going to write an autobiography
Lol! She definitely has a niche group of fans. I’m one of them. She’s written essays about social media in the past and they are very funny.
Yeah, pretty sick, but feels on-brand for Larry David? I’m not saying it to excuse him, I agree with you on all counts. But it’s also very… idk, it puts things in perspective for me to think she was raised by someone who could be so over-the-top and simultaneously dismissive, and then become SO emotionally entwined with Davidson. You know?
“It’s a break-up, not the end of your life.”
A break-up does feel like the end of your life. It’s one of the worst kinds of pain a person can go through.
Whiff the melodrama is strong with this one. A true selling out for fame, it never ceases to amaze the lengths people will go for money and celebrity. Yes heartbreak Hurts but stop with the drama and holocaust ancestors. We are a country lacking in values of integrity.
Clearly you don’t have any attachment issues or mood or personality disorders, but for those of us who do (& she’s been open about it), breakups actually do feel like the end of the world.
In retrospect, all my breakups were good things, but during them, I was desperate for relief at any cost. Breakups have been the closest I’ve come to taking my own life, and the “get over it”/“suicidal ideations are just for attention” mentality is so massively unhelpful & irrelevant when you’re in the thick of that kind of despair.
I completely agree. Going through a breakup is the worst kind of pain. I wouldn’t wish it on someone I hated. Couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. I was terrified to be alone because all I could do was cry.
Thank you, Brittney B, I agree with every word. Break-ups (and relationships, of course) are so enormously influenced by your family dynamics and previous experiences.. I guess some people just can’t understand/empathize.
It sounds like both she and Ariana are better off not in a relationship with Pete anyway.
He sounds like he has a narcissistic streak, IMO. My experience is that people who have that combined with other disorders tend to get themselves tangled up in those really intense, codependent relationships. Everything has to be exciting and tense and constantly high-key because they live off that sense of validation given to them by the drama and vacillating emotion. They love you more than anything until they just suddenly don’t because you challenged them or asked for something in return, and that’s just too much to get out of them.
I’ll pass lol.
(Kudos on her father for having none of it, though. Sometimes you really need an objective person to just say, “Get your shit together” when you’re in the middle of those situations.)
I am lost on what “relationship” number it was? 😂 post Kaia? Post Beckinsale? Pre? And the speed of it all! And i still can’t bloody get any date in 6 months 🤣🤣🤣
Hot mess aside, that Larry David line about their ancestors is really funny.
I love Larry David, but they’re really trying to make her a thing. The whole article is soaked in nepotism. Next!
Geez, if this isn’t nepotism I don’t know what it. She wouldn’t have gotten a book deal if she wasn’t Larry’s daughter. Why does the world care to hear from this person? Because she also dated Pete Davidson? Actually do something with your life, girl, and then maybe you’ll have something to write about besides a young person’s angst and nonsense.
OMG. Yes. Thank you for saying this. It’s so true.
Ladies and gentlemen, seems we have our next gen Lena Dunham. That said, I did laugh out loud at the image of Larry David shouting this.
Oh no, now that you’ve made the Lena Dunham comparison, I can’t unsee it!
Anyone else think Cazzie might have dodged a bullet?
Caz would do well to attend Al Anon meetings. Addicts are … tough. Pete is and will probably always be problematic with intimacy, responsibility and respect for others (and himself). In truth, she dodged a bullet and will one day find a much more stable partner.
Also, I laughed out loud at the Larry David yelling thing. That’s so Larry David. Definitive Larry David. And as someone who gets counseled by my dad about breakups, it’s nice to have that in your life, and I’m glad for her.
I agree! It was more likely a moment of levity to easy a very tense emotional moment for his daughter. My dad did the same after my first heartbreak.
Of course that was after he slapped me. It literally shook be back into reality. It was after that I realized I needed professional help and sought it out. My dad did what needed to be done and as much as it hurt him to do so, I needed it in that exact moment.
I found myself relating to Caz and her experience. Emotions are a powerful thing and it can be hard to pull yourself out of the ones those emotions that keep you down like weights.
Just because you don’t think what she has to say is meaningful doesn’t mean she should just go away and shut up. She published. She is allowed to tell her story. Don’t read it if it bothers you, but I think she might be an intelligent young woman sharing through writing. We have enough people shunning women’s voices. Enough with the criticism.
Commentary is not necessarily criticism. No one in these comments so far, or the article, is telling her to “go away” or “shut up.” They’re just sharing their thoughts. When you share art publicly, that’s what happens. Response to an artist isn’t sexist by simply existing, or existing without being 100% enthusiastic.
@KL- so much this. Tired of the sexism trope.
Why do all of these people — every single one mentioned — sound like they need massive amounts of therapy? Aren’t they already IN it?
I’m not here to be down on someone for an overwhelming response to a bad relationship, especially since I was just last night engaged in a passionate shower monologue addressed to the person who broke my heart seven years ago. When you love people and they screw you over, I’d even argue it’s a lot worse than bad external circumstances, because it cuts into your fundamental understanding of yourself.
And maybe I’m totally wrong and the book will be genius. It just sounds like a lot of material for therapy so far, not something shared with intent or insight.
For sure nepotism got her a book deal, but hopefully she’s talented and it’s a success, and she can then stand on the merit of her work.
I’m sympathetic to her going through a breakup that became very public because of him immediately dating Arianna, and dealing with anxiety issues.
But…she also sounds like a LOT, and I hope she’s getting therapy, and finding ways to deal with her issues, because very often, life SUCKS. And you have to figure out how to deal with it and push forward.
Yikes, why are so many people eager to tear this girl to shreds?!? Young people are overdramatic and breakups can feel like small deaths to even the most emotionally stable among us.
Her dad’s statement is the exact type of humor that seems on-brand for the family and it wouldn’t shock me if she’d gotten her sense of humor from her parents.
If this type of humor and mental health focused biography isn’t your jam, fine. But she’s harmless and I’m here for more work by young Jewish women during a time when LITERAL NAZIS are loudly re-emerging in America.
👏👏👏👏👏
Yes!!
Pete Davidson has a type.
I want Pete to write a tell-all!
I would imagine someone moving on so fast would be harder than just a breakup because youd winder did our relationship mean anything to you? Otherwise why are you moving on so fast?
She said something to the effect of ‘he was saying the same things to her a week or two after hed said them to me’ which would cause you to doubt his declarations of love as genuine
Threatening your partner with suicide to manipulate him/her into behaving the way you want is abuse. It doesn’t matter if you’re suffering from a mental disorder, it is still wrong, and it is still abuse. If anyone reading this is in a relationship where their partner is behaving this way, know that their behavior is not your fault, and their mental health is not your responsibility. It is okay to leave. It is okay to choose yourself. Do not light yourself on fire to keep someone else warm. Look where it got Cassie. She agonized over Pete and he threw her away with no qualms. He publicly humiliated her in a way that he knew his new girlfriend’s fans would understand and interpret in the meanest ways. He kept silent while strangers publicly harassed a woman who was kind to him. She put herself through hell for him and he did nothing for her. That’s how it goes with these kinds of men.
And she doesn’t deserve a book deal but she’ll marry a wealthy producer or agent in 5 years and open an organic juice company or something and we’ll never hear from her again, so this is fine.
Why are you infantalizing an adult woman? She is not responsible for Pete or his mental health problems, but he also didn’t hold a gun to her head and brainwash her into dating him. She made her own decisions, and from the way she writes she does not sound very emotionally stable herself. They actually sound like a good match for one another.
Am also kind of shocked about the negative comments here. This girl didn’t say ANYTHING to the press in the midst of the scandal, and now that she’s settled she’s telling her side of the story and defending herself a bit to her attackers- seems totally understandable to me. And also quite sensible to not act on it while she was going through it, but later with a clearer head.
Kat, yes, she made her own decisions, but her decisions are influenced by how she grew up and what she is struggling with- that’s how she was attracted to him in the first place. It’s not like we grow up and magically lose our childhood traumas and fears by 18 and become 100% objective and rational?
Jeez people, just try to have some empathy! No one is perfect and you might be struggling with something, too, that for other people wouldn’t be a big deal.
Also: it’s not like she‘s blaming everything on him and insulting him. Clearly, she also tries to take responsibility and better herself.